ex astris
by Tenkasen
Summary: Yusei is seven years old when he watches his house burn. [Medieval!AU]
1. Chapter 1

a/n: The core of this story was created by yugirl-with-dragons, and is inspired by her art. Everything here was written personally by me, and what she didn't outline I created, but without her nothing would be here at all.

* * *

His mother tells him, "Go to Neo Domino Kingdom. There, find a woman named Martha and tell her your name. She'll take care of you."

His father tells him, "Run. Run, and don't look back."

* * *

Yusei is seven years old when he watches his house burn.

He looks back, again and again, at the smoking pile of rubble where his home is supposed to be. It becomes harder and harder to distinguish from others, as fires erupt and Satellite falls, but Yusei doesn't stop looking back until he crosses the line well into Neo Domino territory, where Satellite becomes a speck of dust on the horizon.

He stops to catch his breath at the exact moment that Satellite lets out a rumble that shakes the ground even where he stands, and Yusei turns to see the large pillar of black smoke that trails from that speck of dust on the horizon.

He stops to catch his breath but finds only ash in his lungs, lead in his legs, and his heart in his stomach. Yusei collapses to his knees as he tries find a way to force air into his body and the memories of fire out. His doesn't know where his parents are - father fell behind first, and his mother made him go on ahead when they split up at Daedalus Bridge (" _Go to Neo Domino Kingdom."_ ) to go look for his father. He wants to call for them, but the only sounds he's able to make are that of uncontrollable coughing.

Eventually, Yusei runs out of ash and pain to hack out, and he crawls to the woods away from the road, one gasp of air at a time. It's getting dark, and he can no longer see the ruin of his home with absolute clarity. The sun sets as he stumbles through a bush and trips over tree roots, landing hard on his side.

The pain is immediate, but he bites his cheeks and doesn't make a sound. Yusei's vision clouds, and it becomes hard to breathe once more. He curls into himself, tears in his eyes, his back pressed against a broken and dead tree, and practices taking in oxygen, until he can get it right again.

Under a starless sky, Yusei doesn't sleep that night.

* * *

 _No more tears, Yusei. Stand up._

 _We're not going back until you can solve this puzzle._

 _Three fighters on your field. You have enough energy for two traps, but your opponent also has the energy to use one trap to prevent your traps exactly once, and they have two fighters with the ability to negate damage and negate destruction. Your two traps: one is capable of re-summoning a fighter once at the cost of lowering its damage output to zero, and the other will let one of your fighters attack twice. You have a key fighter with the ability to combine the strength of every piece on your field and summon a stronger piece, at the cost of removing them all from the field. You have three options of a stronger fighters you can summon: one has the ability to negate the spells, traps, and fighters of your opponent for a single moment, but cannot attack when it uses this ability, the next has the most damage but no abilities, and the third is the weakest in strength but can gain strength from other the fighters on your field. What do you do?_

 _What? Oh. Your mother will continue your mathematics lessons in the evening as usual, don't worry about her. Focus on this. She's resting right now, which is why I'm taking over your strategy practice today. She's just tired. Our work was hard today, but she's strong._

 _You need to be strong as well, Yusei. With the Planetary Enchantment, the entire spell falls apart if the core that connects all the pieces is weak. Yusei-energy is powerful and the key component in making the Planetary Enchantment work, but it also unyielding. You cannot wield its strength without a thorough understanding of how it works, unless you want to be tossed aside by its power. Stand up, Yusei. If you are to live up to your name, you need to believe in the potential of not only yourself but the people around you, people who will trust you to make the best decision._

 _Set the events off in the correct order, and we'll go home, I promise. You can sleep until dinner, even. But until then, we are not moving from this spot. The backlash of magic from the incorrect input may sting now, but it will be nothing compared to true failure when you grow up. It is better to take that pain and become stronger now, than to let that pain fall to your comrades in the future._

 _The key to this puzzle is not just the reliance on your own powers, but the strength of others._

 _Solve this puzzle in one turn, Yusei._

* * *

A man in dark clothing finds Yusei before the sun does, and Yusei goes with him due to a knife at his throat and a general lack of other options. The man ties his hands behind his back with rope, and shoves Yusei to walk, even when his legs are weak and each step is a struggle to maintain at such a quick pace.

They meet up with another two men - _bandits,_ his mother has told him, _are thieves and men without honor or kindness, who take what's not theirs and sell it away for gold_ \- not far from along a worn down forest path, and Yusei becomes the focus of attention in all his dirt stained, torn up glory.

"Where'd you get the kid?"

"Found him 'bout a mile back. Betting he's from the village that got raided last night. The wall keeping everyone in was trashed with the attack last night, so he probably escaped through there."

Someone pulls at Yusei's shirt, inspecting the material. Yusei jerks away, to the laughter of the three bandits. He looks around for an opening, a chance to run, but his legs threaten to buckle at the very thought of exertion. He is weak, and the men taking him away know this.

"Nice clothes, brat. The material is definitely better than anything most families can afford, especially from a place like _Satellite,_ " one of them laughs. "Count yourself lucky for though. Means we can ransom you off for a pretty penny if your family is still alive."

 _If_ they're still alive. Yusei refuses to make eye contact with them and looks away. He doesn't know where they are, but with the absolute trust that a child has in their parents, Yusei believes in them. They had be to alive somewhere. They had to.

"And if not," Someone grabs his arm, and Yusei tries to pull away in a fruitless effort. "I'm sure we can pawn you off elsewhere. So don't try anything stupid - damaged goods don't sell as well."

"Let's get moving," The tallest one says, "We have to regroup at camp by noon. Don't let the kid slow us down."

Yusei is dragged forward at an alarming speed, and that sets the tone for the trek to their camp. A tense race against time that leaves Yusei with his skin crawling and his hands shaking, because he doesn't know what's going to happen, or where he's going. All he knows is that he's alone, and his mother and father will never find him if he doesn't get to Neo Domino Kingdom.

He only attempts an escape once.

It's an attempt his parents would be disappointed with, Yusei thinks, because it's not well thought out at all. The path they have been taking so far keeps well inside the forest boundary, but at some points strays just close enough to the edge that Yusei can see beyond the trees and the road that lies there.

Yusei breaks for it when he hears what sounds like a carriage on the road - he can see the muddy brown of horses, hear the sound of wooden wheels, and doesn't care whatit is or where it's going. It's the possibility of freedom, Yusei thinks, even the slim chance of his parents looking for him. It's what drives him to act and not think, and what he'll regret later.

He makes it off the path and into some bushes before his kidnappers react - the small element of surprise gives him those few seconds. But Yusei didn't factor in his lethargic body or the clumsiness that comes with; he moves without grace and loses speed instead of gaining it. He makes it just a few feet short of the last row of trees, just short of the road, before someone crashes into him behind, pinning him to the ground. One hand covers his mouth, the other holds him down.

Yusei watches as the carriage rides by, and closes his eyes when it disappears from sight.

Things are quiet, for a long minute, until the cloaked man holding him down is sure the carriage is out of range. Next, things become much louder.

"Guess you're a pretty dumb kid," The man says, standing up. "Didn't I tell you damaged goods aren't worth as much?"

Yusei's shaking, as he mumbles out an apology, something, anything, whatever he can with his face pressed to the ground. The man isn't impressed.

"Oh, you 'won't do it again'?" The man snorts. "Oh I _know_. Because I'll make sure of it."

He steps on Yusei's leg, at first with minimal pressure, just enough so Yusei can figure out what comes next. Yusei opens his mouth to plead _no, please, don't_ , but instead screams of pain come out as the man begins stomping on his legs with incredible force. It's only when there's a literal snap that the man stops, and Yusei tries to remember how to breathe through pain, taking in rapid shallow gasps of air as his eyes overflow with tears.

The man grabs him by his collar and drags Yusei up the hill, back to the path they had deviated from. His companions wait for him there, and are neither impressed with Yusei and his terrible escape attempt, or at the broken leg he now sports, but they don't waste much time griping about the decrease in profit. Yusei is thrown over someone's shoulder to be carried on, and they group returns to moving onward as if nothing had happened.

Yusei, on the brink of passing out, wonders how many other children these people have done this to. He wonders and wants to scream - in agony, in defiance. His weakness won't last, he promises himself, it won't last and he'll make them pay, he won't let this happen to anyone else. One day, he'll be stronger, and he will stop them.

* * *

 _Can you keep a secret, Yusei?_

 _You can't even tell your father that you know this._

 _Yusei. Don't cry. Don't fear the walls, don't fear the guards. Fear nothing in this village that is our home. I know what those soldiers said upset you. That you were trash. That you were useless. That you would never be able to leave. Don't listen to them. Just listen to me._

 _You weren't born here, nor were you sentenced here by the king's guard. How could you, silly? You were only a few months old when your father and I came here. Your father and I are here on a super-secret mission. We're going to make the kingdom better, make it stronger. We're going to make it so no kingdom can ever hurt it again. Isn't that exciting?_

 _That's right, dry your tears. Hush, hush._

 _But it's taking a long time to make the spell to keep Neo Domino safe. We're all going to be here a while. I know it will be hard. The guards don't treat anyone very nicely here, not you nor me. Yes, even me. Super-secret, remember? Most of them don't know either._

 _But we have to be strong. Yusei, we want you to stay strong. To remain steadfast even when things are tough. To be a strong center in our family. We named you after your father's strongest spell, his second greatest creation: the spell that binds many things to a strong core, a core that connects itself with every part and enhances them._

 _Oh, what's the greatest creation he's ever made, then?_

 _That's easy, silly._

 _You._

* * *

Despite the pain, Yusei must have fallen asleep at some point, because between closing his eyes to the sight of the forest floor and opening them to a strangely clearer looking area, the brightness of the sun seems to have increased greatly, and he guesses that few hours have passed. That's what his father taught him, that the sun's position in the sky could tell let you know what time it was. Yusei twists his neck to look up, and the sun was nearly directly overhead. Almost noon.

They've must have arrived at their destination, because Yusei hears the sound of more footsteps approaching - the crunch of twigs and leaves, the jingle of gold in someone's pouch.

"Finally, there you three are. Whatchu got there on your shoulder Dal?"

"Picked up some kid on the way here; figure we could ransom him to his family or sell him for something." Someone pulls at Yusei's shirt again, but he has no room or energy to pull away. "He's kind of stupid though; told him not to run and he did, so Zamu broke his leg."

"Really, Zamu? Kid's like, six or something. Could've just tied him up more," The new voice scoffs. "Plus, if we don't ransom him, who's gonna wanna buy a kid with a broken leg? No one, you dipshit."

"Piss off," Zamu, apparently, answers. "The brat took off and nearly made it to the road when somebody was driving by. He's a clever little shit, can't take any chances with that type."

"Oh, I see. A kid with common sense outsmarted you and you got all pissy about it, didn't you?"

"Shut up."

"How do you live with such easily wounded pride? Really, I have to know."

"More importantly," The man holding Yusei interrupts, "Where is everyone? Aren't we moving camp today? I need somewhere to dump this kid; I'm not watching him all day."

"Oh, right! Listen, forget the kid, he's chump change compared to what the Boss found. You gotta see it to believe it."

"What is it?"

"You'll see. Follow me."

The sudden running the group does jostles Yusei's leg and he lets out a sharp cry, one that's ignored. Yusei doesn't care where everyone is, he just wants to be put back on the ground, where nothing's going to move his leg and maybe it won't hurt as much for a second or two. But like everything else since yesterday, no one cares what a stupid little kid like him wants, and things continue as they are. If he was stronger, this wouldn't be happening. If he was stronger, he could fight back. If he was stronger, he could have gone back for father with mother, instead of being told to run ahead.

"Holy shit."

Whatever they see causes them to halt, but Yusei's limited view range doesn't grant him the same idea of what they're looking at. There's lot of noise in this spot, a shady part of the woods again with lots of taller trees, spread out near the roots but so old and large that they touch branches at the top. People are shouting, and there's… growling? Some sort of animal, one Yusei can't quite place.

" _Holy shit_ ," Someone says again. "By the gods… How the hell did the Boss capture this thing?"

"Isn't Boss some old mage that got kicked out of the capital when the latest king took the throne? Never knew he could do this."

"I don't know -"

Yusei is dropped unceremoniously on the ground. He sees stars for a horrible moment, but in a few seconds, keeps blinking because even though his eyes have cleared up, starlight fills his vision.

"- I mean, _dragon_ huntingis damn near impossible to do without losing a limb, even with magic backing you up."

Yusei stares at the creature, something horrible and beautiful and screaming, jaws stretched out with teeth that looked each as sharp as a knife. It was white and blue, maybe as large as his home is - _was_ \- and had a strange, star-like shimmer to its scales, that would have appeared flawless if not for the wounds littering its body - cracks in its skin, large cuts, that oozed out something that wasn't quite blood. It was trapped, tied down by yards of physical ropes and… a purple barrier.

 _A holding spell_ , his father has told him, _glows with a purple and translucent light; it's power can be used for good purposes, or malicious ones._

Yusei wasn't sure which category this one fell into - the creature, the _dragon_ , looked intimidating, the personification of the monsters in the fairy tales his mother would tell him. But it was also suffering, thrashing around with the limited amount of strength it seemed to have left. The purple barrier surrounding it wasn't just keeping it stuck, it was pulling something out of the dragon - threads of light pooling into a jar someone was holding. It looked slow, and with each tug of the strings, the dragon lashed out, each strike appearing to hold less and less force to it.

Were they killing it? It certainly looked like it to Yusei, and faced with watching something die a slow death right in front of him, he feels bile rise up in his throat and throws his hands up to his mouth, barely suppressing it.

A hand grabs the collar of his shirt and drags him to a stack of crates, and he's instructed to stay there by one of the bandits, not like he has much choice in the matter. Yusei is now much closer to the dragon, able to stare directly into its yellow eyes from this angle and watch as it coughs out something akin to black sludge. He's warned against getting too close, in case it tries to eat him. A holding spell wouldn't let him though, Yusei thinks. Even if it is on a dragon, the basic principles should still apply.

 _Yes, yes you've got it Yusei! A holding spell traps anything - a person, an animal, an object - and prevents it from moving even an inch outside of the barrier made around it. It can even hold something trapped in midair for a short time, though this is a little too advanced to be talking about now. But look! Isn't this exciting? My son's a natural!_

The dragon is certainly putting up an incredible fight for something stuck inside a holding spell - the space itself around you becomes a shield that leaves you no room to move, no room to breathe. A custom made shape each time it takes effect, because the spell is catered to the shape of the target and can be so tight that even air doesn't flow through, or can be loose enough where there's a fraction of room to struggle, even if it's fruitless. _The latter is often a sign of an amateur_ , his father has told him, _or at least, someone who hasn't practiced in a long time._

Without the barrier, would the dragon be strong enough to break free of the ropes, and just fly away? It had large wings, albeit torn and ragged in their appearance, but it was also coughing and screaming something horrendous, and Yusei's not sure something so sick and so dead looking could even stand, let alone fly.

Yusei keeps staring at the dragon, and for a moment, it's staring back. It halts it's snarling, and just maintains eye contact, as if it knew what he was thinking. A strange thought occurs in Yusei's mind, and he wonders if mother or father would approve of a second escape attempt, considering how dismal the first one turned out. At least they didn't tie him up further, which may be the only upside to getting his leg broken. Since, after all, it was going to be hard to run with his leg as it was.

But a suddenly free dragon would make for a good distraction. And for a moment, Yusei sees a chance at his future again.

 _Despite how useful it is; the holding spell isn't used very much. Unless you continuously cast it, it won't hold for long. It's also actually very easy to charm against, either preemptively or after it's taken effect, as long as you know what you're doing. Now, remember…_

 _You need your arm out, like this -_

It takes a fair bit of wiggling, and pulling at his hand until he was almost sure he was in danger of breaking that too, when Yusei was eventually able to free it from the bindings behind his back. His hand feels cold and appears red with ugly rope marks, but despite the stiffness Yusei points towards the dragon with two fingers, who watches him with a dim glow to its yellow eyes.

 _\- concentrate, pull from inside yourself a power that everyone has, even if it's just a spark, and just say these words, clear and concise -_

"Barrier: _Release._ "

The effect is sudden, and the reaction instantaneous.

The holding spell shatters, scattering into a thousand see through pieces as if it were glass. And the dragon - the dragon _roars,_ and bursts into a pure white light _._ It's so incredibly bright that Yusei has to throw his arms up to shield his face, and when he lowers them, the world is alight with specks of light in the air. Like shards of ice glimmering in the air, fragile and broken and _cold_ , leaving Yusei to wonder if he's actually killed the creature instead of helping it. But the shards pull themselves back together, and reform into the dragon - but something's different, in the air, in the dragon itself. Its body is untouched, unbroken, and unyielding. The dragon screams again, with life to its voice and strength in its body.

Its cry blows back several men and crates, and Yusei himself is knocked over as the creature rears up and snaps away the rope binding it. Its wings spread to its full length, and Yusei, staring up from the ground, has never seen anything so awe inspiring.

The bandits, however, do not share his opinion.

"The - _the barrier disappeared?_ "

"How the hell did it get free?"

"What was that light?"

"Quick you idiots, we need to subdue it again!"

Yusei begins to wonder if the dragon can understand what they're saying, because in the next second the man who yelled about subduing the monster had been blasted by a strange white beam of light. It then rounded on the man who had been holding the jar that was pulling something out of the dragon, and he too was struck by the same attack. Evidently, however, this proved to have something of a combustible effect, because it explodes in a fiery blaze.

The explosive fire hits more than just the bandits - weren't there so many more of them just minutes ago? - it hits their equipment, their enchanted items, and in general other easily flammable object like the wooden crates, and the fire spreads with enormous speed. Recognizing he is exactly next to something incredibly susceptible to fire, Yusei throws himself away from it just in time to avoid becoming barbequed. His leg doesn't thank him for the exertion, nor does his stomach for landing on something hard - something that definitely wasn't the ground either.

He's grabbed onto the dragon's tail.

Yusei, with wide eyes and a will to live, at first tries to back away with the intent of finding a safe path to limp along on his way to freedom, but takes a moment to look around. Among the screams and bodies of bandits lying askew - _death, they're all dead, this isn't what he wanted_ \- the trees that had been broken and fallen over, and everything that was on fire, Yusei saw it.

He was trapped.

The fire had reached everything around him, and left no openings to run through, an eerie reminder of the fall of his home, and when Yusei blinks he imagines the ruins of his village. The men that were still alive - the ones capable of the magic were throwing weak spells around - to douse the fire, to fight back, but most others were attempting to down the dragon with bow and arrows. A stray arrow lands near Yusei - or maybe it was aimed at him - and it hits the narrow space in between the dragon's scales. Something leaks out of the wound, something silver that gets all over Yusei's hand and it sticks like blood.

The dragon screams once more, blowing back arrows and the bandits, and stretches out its wings, beating them experimentally within the forest walls. What was previously a nice, shady area was now an unnaturally clear opening, having burned or knocked over much of the immediate area, and that gave the dragon room.

Yusei holds onto the tail with everything he has the dragon takes off, at first slow and ungainly, orienting itself in the air. Then with a powerful beat of its wing they ascend rapidly, and soar above the tree line. Yusei grabs hold of the arrow still lodged in the tail for support, and throws a leg - thankfully, the unbroken one - over the tail to help find purchase to hang on.

Higher and higher, the dragon rise to the clouds, then surpasses them. Yusei shuts his eyes at first when they break through them, but when he opens them, he's treated to the sight of a world of nothing but blue skies and sunshine. It's serenity on a scale Yusei has never experienced, and he forgets the fire, the village, and even himself amidst the wind. The elation of the speed they were flying at and the freedom of being so far away distracts Yusei enough to almost lose his footing when the dragon dives back down.

The dragon chooses to land by a lake, that lies in the shadow of a great mountain, a dark and cool place that Yusei feels cold as soon as they touch down upon the land. The tail whips around enough that Yusei _does_ lose his grip here, and he's thrown off. It's pure misfortune that the direction he's tossed in happens to be the lake - even more misfortune that it's a particularly deep end that Yusei ends up splashing into, crying out in surprise.

Yusei sinks slowly to the bottom of the lake like a rock, trying to kick his way back up but finding his legs - both of them now, what a betrayal - flat out incapable of it. He's watching the light of the surface fade away, when something breaks it and reaches down to him. Yusei reaches his arm to it in response.

It's a hand - or at least, the dragon equivalent. The claws scoop him up gently, and raises him out of the water and deposits him onto land. He falls on his bad leg, and the sudden sharp intake of air he takes in response prompts his lungs to start hacking out water at the same time, so Yusei begins a wonderful coughing fit where not breathing is key.

"You're a brave one, kiddo."

Yusei freezes, or at least his mind does while his body continues to shake, and looks up, directly into the face of the dragon. It gazes it him, wings folded around them, but strangely, Yusei doesn't feel _trapped_ , like he was at the bandit's camp, or when he was surrounded by fire. He feels… protected.

"What's your name?" The dragon asks, not quite with its mouth, but Yusei knows it's the dragon, and no one else. It's an odd feeling of connection that he doesn't understand, but just as tangible and strong as a length rope between them both.

"Yu… Yusei." He says, tracing the characters of his name into the ground. "Yusei Fudo."

"Yusei. Thank you for freeing me." The dragon says, leaning down to look at the written version of his name. "Most human children wouldn't know how to undo a spell like that. Where did you learn?"

"My father," Yusei says. "He says it's easy to break free if you know what you're doing."

"He's right," The dragon says, "They unfortunately were well prepared for me, with poison and spells, and locked me down from any counter measures. If not for you, they would have stolen all of my magic away."

"Is that what they were taking from you and putting in that jar?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Humans are capable of magic, as all living creatures are, but many are limited in what they can produce and wield." The dragon says, lowering its head to speak to Yusei at eye level. "But I can produce _far_ more than any human could dream of. That is why they try to take what is not theirs to use - so they can have power they would never have normally."

"That's not right," Yusei murmurs. The dragon is within reach now, and Yusei reaches out to touch its face, hesitant at first, but encouraged by the lack of a negative response. Its skin is warm and hard, it's scales are smooth and shine even in daylight. He wonders if this is what real freedom looks like, what it feels like, pure speed and grace and an unearthly light. He envies the dragon for all it has. He pities the dragon for all it must go through.

"...What's your name?" Yusei asks.

"Stardust."

"It's… it's nice to meet you, Stardust Dragon."

Something like laughter rumbles out of the dragon.

Yusei, forgetting himself for a moment, tries to stand up and ask what was so funny, but the second he puts pressure on his leg he falls back down, trying to bite down on any sounds of pain. He doesn't appear very successful, because Stardust angles his head at him strangely.

"What's wrong?"

"N... nothing." Yusei bites out, "I just -"

"You're wounded."

"...I'm okay."

"I don't think you are."

"I said I'm fine. Don't worry about me, _you_ have an arrow in your tail."

"You -"

"I'm fine!" Yusei thrusts his hand forward, the one caked in silver, partially washed off from the lake. "See? This is your blood. You're hurt, not me."

"...I see," Stardust says, curling his tail forward, inspecting the arrow still stubbornly stuck in it. "I was wondering what thorn was stuck back there. Would you mind doing me the favor of pulling it out?"

Yusei nods, and sets about beginning a very important task of ripping out the arrow with all the grace of a blind carpenter. The dragon takes the pain in stride, without reaction, without weakness.

"Thank you," Stardust says.

"You're welcome."

"Let me see your wounds," Stardust says, and Yusei shakes his head furiously. "You're a brave kid, and you have helped me. Let me repay your kindness. Bravery will not stop you from dying a fool's death if you leave yourself untreated."

The dragon inspects the cuts on Yusei arms, the unnatural angle at which his leg is bent, and the paleness to his skin. Yusei lets him, his head filled with memories of bruised knees, gentle hands, and the sound of his parent's voices. It's been a day and he's no closer to Neo Domino Kingdom than he was at the dusk of yesterday - if anything he's certain they've gone in the opposite direction since taking flight.

"Do you know how to heal yourself, Yusei?"

"No," Yusei draws his good leg up to him and curls an arm around it. "My father says I don't have the magical capabilities - healing is very high level, and some types of magic you have to be born capable of. I'm only good at trap-based magic."

"Your father is well educated," Stardust says, returning to its full height after a thorough inspection. "I suspected you weren't a mage in training, though you are very clever for your age. Your wisdom will aid you well in your life.

"Unfortunately, while I can produce magic and heal myself, I cannot heal others. You will have to seek a human healer or look for medicine in the wild."

"It's okay," Yusei says, "I'm be alright, I just need to find my parents."

"Oh?"

"I live in Satellite," Yusei looks down at the ground, where he traced his name in the loose gravel. He wipes it away with the heel of his shoe. "But I don't think it exists anymore. It caught on fire."

"Fire? How?"

"I don't know," Yusei murmurs, rubbing a dirt streaked hand across his eyes. "I don't know. I just know some people came and then the buildings started catching on fire, like my house, and the wall that surrounds Satellite broke. I lost my parents while we were running. It's okay though, they told me to go to Neo Domino Kingdom to meet someone first. I'll find them there."

"I see," Stardust says, settling down besides Yusei, curling its body around them both. It's warm and reminiscent of sleeping next to a fireplace. Yusei feels a wave of longing and weariness hit him all at once, leaving his eyelids heavy and making every blink a battle to keep them open. "When did this happen?"

"Yesterday." Yusei yawns. "I've never been to Neo Domino. Is it nice there?"

"It is a center for humans and it's capital for this side of the continent," Stardust draws his wings closer around them both, like a shield from the sun and the wind, from the world itself. Yusei lies down, his back against the dragon's arm, his body covered by the wing like a blanket. "I have never been there, but I know it to be full of people. Perhaps your family will be there, along with this person you seek."

"They will," Yusei says, hopes, wishes.

Yusei closes his eyes, and sleeps underneath the shade of a mountain, beside a dragon made of starlight.

* * *

 _Neo Domino Kingdom is taking a stand against the assassination attempt against the King. War was declared officially last week._

 _I know. Rudger denies ownership of the assassin and is responding with his full military might. Satellite will be targeted - we lie too close to Neo Domino's borders, and function as an important industrial and agricultural area. It's strategic._

 _It's cruel. You used to be an advisor to them both when they were children, and yet they would toss your words aside and trample our home in their childish fights, ripping apart their kingdoms in what was once a united land._

 _There's nothing I can do now. Rudger would refuse to see me if I went to his kingdom, and Rex cannot rescind his declaration of war without appearing weak and we both know he'd sacrifice Satellite in a heartbeat if it would keep Neo Domino safe._

 _Then, our only option lies in evacuation._

 _You know neither kingdom would accept refugees from Satellite. Most people who live here do so out of force - Rex likes to use this village as a rehabilitation prison, turning criminals from the capital into workers for the land here. We'd never be allowed to step foot past the border, let alone outside the walls that barricade us in._

 _Not everyone here is branded a criminal._

 _No, but the reputation of this village is renowned, that's why we were stationed here. Rudger would never suspect Neo Domino's large scale magic project to be in the same place they deport their criminals. But it's a double-edged sword - regardless of who we are, our home brands us more than our career. Rex won't vouch for us to return until the project is complete - he made that very clear when we began._

 _The spell is too unstable. If we're attacked while still running tests on it -_

 _I know. But if we abandon it without dispelling it, we arrive at the same result. ...We have no choice. We'll have to focus on shutting the project down safely and then finding a way out of Satellite. Rex won't like it, but until the war is over it's far too dangerous to keep it going._

 _...Then what will we do about Yusei?_

* * *

"Yusei."

Yusei opens his eyes, recalling darkness and hushed voices in the dead of night, then trying to push them away. Stardust has removed his wing, but still remains of a furnace of warmth that isn't exactly soft to lie on, but preferable to the ground.

"How do you feel, Yusei?"

He feels like a burnt out candle, if he's feeling truthful, but since he's not, he tells the dragon that he's feeling okay. He suspects that Stardust knows this as well, but the lie is not contested and the day continues.

"Come with me," Stardust says, lifting Yusei into his hands, where he tries to get comfortable between the claws. "I want to look for herbs to ease your pain."

"Why?" Yusei asks, as they take off. The sky is less peaceful today than it was the day before, cloudy and unwelcoming, and there is the start of rainfall. Yusei wonders if there will be enough rain to cool off the forest fire he set, the village he ran from.

"You helped me," Stardust says, spreading his wings and leaving behind a trail of sparkling dust. "I will help you in return. It is as simple as that. In addition, I feel compelled to protect those in need of help. My abilities are geared towards doing so. That is all."

"So you're like a kind of sanctuary," Yusei says. "A victim sanctuary."

They touch back down to the ground after a while, just as the rain makes itself pronounced and heavy, soaking Yusei immediately and making his hair resemble a wet cat. It's the edge of a forest - a different one, Yusei notes, because he doesn't recognize the trees or the mountains that linger not far out of sight. The world is rather large outside of Satellite's walls, and he wants to ask where they are, but Stardust soon gives him the task of looking through the bushes for leaves and fruits of varying descriptions.

"This one will keep your cuts clean," Stardust says, as Yusei plucks some oddly shaped leaves from a bush. "The oil they discharge will sting, but it prevents your wounds from becoming infected."

"Are you sure it works on people?" Yusei says, rubbing one over his arm and wincing.

"No. I've only tested it on myself before."

Yusei makes a face at this.

Despite his misgivings, the swelling goes down and the pain in his cuts become much duller and easier to manage in the time it takes Stardust to scoop him up and move him to the higher branches of a tree, where some small, unfamiliar fruit lay in waiting. His leg is still useless, but with the two of them working together they can get the small things that matter.

Yusei picks one that within reach - a round red thing with green blotches covering one side of it.

"What is this?"

"An apple," Stardust says, "They're fairly common. Have you not had one before?"

"We don't get a lot of fruit in Satellite," Yusei says, taking a bite out of it. It's sour, and Yusei grimaces, but continues chewing because wasting food isn't something he knows how to do. "My parents could afford more things than most of our neighbors could, but the markets in Satellite didn't have much food to sell."

"Why is that?"

"Father says it's because Satellite focuses on mining, but Mother also says Satellite grows some food, but it's for the kingdom, and we don't get to keep much of it because the king doesn't like Satellite."

"Is Satellite not part of the Neo Domino Kingdom?"

"It is," Yusei says through a mouthful of apple. "Lots of bad people live in Satellite though. Mother says not to talk to them, but they're not all so bad. Some people in Satellite are there 'cuz they've lived there all their life but can't leave."

"Why?"

"Because of the wall."

"Why is there a wall?"

"Because lots of bad people live in Satellite. The capital sends them over, but doesn't let them leave. No one can leave."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Yusei says. "They just can't."

"Typical humans," Stardust says, and makes a small sound like a _chuff_ , startling Yusei because it's a noise that actually came from the dragon's mouth and slightly shakes the tree leaves around them. The dragon turns his head, staring back at the mountains. Yusei wonders if Neo Domino Kingdom lies beyond it.

"Your village is a _prison_ , no better than the trap those humans caught me in. It matters not to those in power who is snared in it, be in child or adult, innocent or guilty. They use you to further their own strength, sacrificing your lives and your _freedom,_ forcing you into mediocrity so they can live like _kings_."

"I'm sorry," Yusei says, and the dragon turns his head back to face him. "I've made you upset. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, kiddo." Stardust says, after a moment's pause, in a decidedly softer sounding tone. "I do not blame you for the sins of your species. No child should suffer that."

"What did we do?"

"You have done nothing," Stardust leans down until his face brushes Yusei's wet hair. Yusei reaches a hand up to brush against the smooth scales and leathery skin. "Many humans have done nothing. Individually, you are all capable of good. But often when grouped together, they fall into a mentality of greed and hatred. And it is always the weakest that suffer."

Yusei looks away from his half-finished fruit and up at the sky. It's a sullen gray, clouded and thick with humidity in the air, and Yusei is hit directly in the eye with a raindrop. He winces and rubs it away with the hand not attached to Stardust, a hand he stops to look at when something silver catches his eye. It's mostly gone now, but there are still silver flakes stuck to his hand from yesterday.

"How are your wounds?" Yusei asks. "Are you okay now?"

Stardust's tail whips into view, trampling some of the smaller bushes by his feet. Yusei looks, and can't find the spot where the arrow had pierced, nor any traces of blood.

"I'm fine. I can heal myself," Stardust says, "My ability can let me recover from any wound, poison, or near death state, and come back stronger from it."

"Really?" Yusei breathes, recalling the burst of bright white light Stardust had become after being freed. "Is that what you did when at the bandit camp?"

"Yes."

"That's so cool!" Yusei says, and while Stardust doesn't smile with his mouth exactly, he seems pleased when he rubs Yusei's hair with his chin. Yusei's hair also now resembles an upside down crab, and he tries to flatten it with little luck.

"Let us go now," Stardust tells him, leaning back and angling his body towards the sky. Yusei scrambles to get a solid grip on Stardust's claws. "There is nothing I can do for your broken bones, so I will return you to human civilization. You do not belong with me, and you have a family to find."

The rain begins to lessen and Stardust shoots off into the sky. Yusei watches the ground become a blur of greens and browns, and closes his eyes not to hide from the coldness in the air or the viciousness of the speed, but to embrace it.

"Thank you for helping me," Yusei whispers, voice lost to the wind but not to Stardust. "Thank you so much."

"Don't thank me," Stardust says. "I am merely repaying my debt to you."

"Can I see you again?" Yusei asks. "After I go to Neo Domino Kingdom. Can we meet again?"

"You'd be better off not doing so. Little good comes of humans and dragons mingling together. Stay with your people, and stay with your family."

Yusei wants to respond to that, he opens his mouth and wants to ask _why_ , but something catches his attention and his gaze snaps to the right.

There's fire, and smoke.

It's not Satellite, still burning and decaying, but it is something else, not a town but a conglomerate of people and bursts of light. There is screaming, screaming Yusei can hear over the wind and in the sky, and when Stardust too stops to look, Yusei gets a better look at the colors they wear. There are the colors of Neo Domino Kingdom, which Yusei remembers from the guards stationed at Satellite's wall. And there are colors he's seen only once before, on the soldiers that came and broke the wall, who were there before Satellite fell. Yusei's throat constricts.

"War," Stardust says, beating his wings to keep them in place at their solitary viewpoint, far away from the battlefield. "It seems your village was the beginning of it."

Yusei tries to say something, but struggles to even cough out a single syllable. He's shaking, and the grip tight he has on Stardust turns his hands a bone-white in color.

"It would wise to avoid them," Stardust says, already apparently uninterested in the conflict. "Avoid battle until you are older, but avoid war at all costs. It is never worth the sacrifice. Perhaps I should return you to somewhere besides the capital -"

"No!" Yusei forces out, and the dragon stops. "No, no, no! Please, you can't just let this happen! You can stop them, can't you? You're strong! You can stop this!"

"It's possible," Stardust admits. "I have seen tensions rise between the two kingdoms for some time now, and I suspect I know why. But while I can stop the battle, I don't see why I should bother stopping the war. This is not the first war humans have waged with themselves, and not the last. There has never been a period of peace that has lasted."

"So?" Yusei shouts. "Does that mean they should all die, then? I don't want this! I don't want more people to die, like in Satellite, like in the bandit's camp!"

"Those bandits harmed you and me," Stardust snarls. "And would have killed us both for a bit of coin. Your pity and grief is misspent on them."

"No one has the right to take anyone's future from them!" Yusei screams. "Not them. Not me. And not you. People have the right to change, and make mistakes, and do better!"

"You believe in humanity potential an awful lot for a child."

"You don't believe an awful lot for a dragon that's never been a human." Yusei says, forcing himself to stand on both legs, despite the pain, despite the agony, to stand in Stardust's hand and look up at him. "Please, Stardust. Please. Help them. They have a right to their future."

The dragon looks back at the battlefield, speckled with bursts of light and dark clouds, flashes of fire, and the flags of the two kingdoms. It's a disaster, Yusei knows, unnecessary pain and suffering, and he doesn't know why it's happening. He just knows he doesn't want to rewatch Satellite's fall every time he sees fire.

 _War is the dispute between two or more nations,_ his father has told him, _it is a battle that kings wage based on their principles, like a duel but much larger in scale, but that's the problem. See, when we play chess Yusei, no one gets hurt. But in a real war, when you use people instead of pawns, someone else ultimately pays the price when you sacrifice them._

"...I take it back," Stardust says. "Your wisdom won't aid you in life; it will get you killed. You believe the potential people have too much. They will fail you one day."

"My parents named me after a spell," Yusei says, "My dad's second greatest creation: The Planetary enchantment. Mother says it's because they want me to become a core - a central system that works together with others and connects them with each other, just like the spell. To do that, I have to believe in the best that people have to offer. Father raised me to fulfil that idea."

"Then you were raised as an ideology," Stardust responds shortly. "Not as a child."

"That's okay," Yusei smiles. "I trust mother and father, and I love them. I'll try my best to live up to their wishes."

Something about this response seems to unsettle Stardust, and he stares at Yusei for a length of time that Yusei measures of the pain in the leg and the wind at his back. War rages and they don't have the time to be debating beliefs, Yusei thinks, because it seems like something his father would say. Yusei thinks it's still important, though, the language of the heart and the belief words can carry. He's not sure if he knows how to articulate that yet, though.

"...What was the greatest creation?"

"What?"

"The greatest thing your father created. What was it?"

"Oh…That's..."

 _That's easy, silly._

"Me."

Laughter. Stardust laughs, in his chest and in their connection that echoes in his mind, and again Yusei wants to know what's so funny, he can even feel his own face puff up indignantly, but the dragon doesn't give him time to respond.

"You really are a brave one, kiddo." Stardust says. "Fine. I'll stop this war for you."

"Really? You promise?"

"I do." Stardust beats his wings again, gathering up a strong gust of wind beneath them. "Sit back down, you don't need to further break that leg to speak to me. I will stop the fighting, and then I am taking you to Neo Domino Kingdom. I leave it to you to see that your species does not repeat itself in this lifetime."

"That it doesn't..." Yusei slides back down, mindful of his leg. "You're entrusting it to me? I... I'm just a kid…I'm not strong like you are. What can I do?"

"Believe in them, or not," Stardust says," I merely leave it to you to decide what you want in your life. Don't let anyone dictate your destiny for you, not even your parents. If you wish to become their center, let it be a choice of your own will.

"As for your age… I expect it to be a role you would grow into. You are an exceptional child. I expect you to grow into an exceptional adult as well."

Stardust moves Yusei upward and leaves him on the dragon's back, between the shoulder blades, a small niche that Yusei can cling to Stardust's neck to. It's not comfortable for his leg, but as long as Stardust leans forward a bit, Yusei can hang on without much trouble.

"It will be easier for me to fight and keep you safe if you stay there," Stardust says. "Hang on."

Stardust rises to the clouds with great speed and breaks through them, scattering the dust and winds away and creating a small patch of sunlight that lands in the middle of the battlefield. Noise on the ground stops for a split second, as some pause to look up and their mild confusion turns into shock. Stardust roars and splits the field with a shining white blast, narrowly avoiding actual soldiers but demolishing catapults and spells, and cutting the field in half with a brief eruption of fire. There is a swift retreat by both of the sides, while some attempt retaliation, but Stardust fires again, and both sides fully scatter.

Encouraged by the sounds of silence, Yusei peers down over Stardust's shoulder. The field is in disarray, but there's few casualties, and it's as close to a win as Yusei could see happening. The fire that Stardust started diminishes, with little left to accelerate it within reach.

Stardust doesn't dawdle however, and Yusei finds that flying while on a dragon's back is far more exhilarating than doing so from within its hands. He can see the sky blur past and feel the wind almost threaten to tear him off if he so much as loosens his grip even a fraction. His heart speeds up and before Yusei realizes it he's laughing. His eyes are stinging from the wind and the cold air makes the tips of his fingers feel frozen but he's laughing and he's never felt so alive.

They're in the sky for some time after the battlefield, long enough for the sun to dip below the horizon and cast an orange hue across the land. Yusei watches the shadows grow longer with every passing moment, enamored with the flight and view, as Stardust maintains a fast, but stable flight across the continent. It's here that he sees a something that's distinctly familiar and yet entirely unrecognizable. Yusei sees the rubble of Satellite, the signature wall that's been broken on almost every side, and the buildings within large stubs of charcoal.

"That's -!" Yusei shouts, jerking up. "Over there! That's Satellite! That's my home!"

"That is your village?" Stardust glances toward it. "...We should not stop there."

"My parents - they could be there!"

"They could be. But -"

"Please! I need to see if they're still there or not!"

There is dissatisfaction in response to his words - Stardust doesn't say anything, but makes a slow change in direction, tilting towards the ruined village with reluctance in every movement he makes. Yusei keeps his eyes fixed on the ground, as things become sharper and more detailed, as shapes become homes he used to see, markets he used to frequent, and people he used to know.

Yusei had thought that hadn't been the only one to have gotten out - that while he was running, others were running too. And while he wasn't wrong in that sense, it seems he had been the only one small enough to fit through the cracks along the northern side, where the wall still stood mostly untouched in comparison to the southern side. There were the shapes of people, old and young, lining the streets, stacked against the wall, all burned or broken, but not enough that they were beyond recognition. He could still see the faces of most of them, and the expressions they wore before it ended.

Stardust hovers over the village, lingering in any particular spot for only a moment, as they didn't quite step into the village, only just keeping an arm's length above the ruined buildings, letting Yusei peer over his shoulder onto the ground.

He finds some of the kids he would play with when mother and father were away working, children who used to pick on him before he befriended them by fixing their toys, children he had played tag with in the streets and hide and seek in the markets. All the kids were bigger than him, a few years older, tougher, stronger. It wasn't enough to save them from soldiers.

He finds the old doctor that he parents took him too once, beneath what was likely his house made of stone and thatch. The man had a stern face and little to say to children, but always was gentle in taking care of Yusei when he was sick or had gotten hurt in the streets. He hadn't tried to run, it seems. Just quietly choose his fate, an old man whose family had died long before him.

He finds the young woman who snuck him an extra bit of food every time he came on an errand with his mother. She had a bright smile and a kind heart, even though she had less to spare than Yusei did. He would talk to her as his mother selected what to buy, and she would ask him about his day and what he had done, and had eyes like stained glass, bright and beautiful in the sunshine. He is only able to recognize her through her distinctive braid - her lightly colored hair was longer than anyone else's in the village, a point of pride for her, one she spent much time taking care of. It is a cut and jagged mess when Yusei sees it, covered in ash and stained with blood.

He finds his father.

"Put me down," Yusei whispers, "I need to get down there."

"No."

"I'm getting off."

Yusei tries to crawl off the dragon's back - he ends up just flinging himself off when Stardust begins to ascend in retaliation. He spends a second in the air, where nothing matters except getting to the ground as fast as possible, but Stardust catches him - clumsily, having grabbed at Yusei off balance and is forced to land as a result. Yusei doesn't care, not about Stardust's warnings against it, not about his leg, not about anything. He squirms his way out of the dragon's claws and onto the unforgiving earth, and limps away.

Stardust is silent, but Yusei feels his eyes on his back, and that gaze remains there well past the arrival of dusk.

Yusei doesn't want to think right now, not really. His father would chastise him for that, since it's not a logical decision by definition, but it doesn't matter anymore. He just needs to get to him, and look for mother. He just has to see them.

He can't find his mother's body. Or maybe he does, but Yusei can't identify many of the bodies that are in the general vicinity that he finds his father's in. His father's hair that Yusei inherited and the carved metal ring on his left hand serve as what truly confirm that he's found one parent in a pile of dead, but his mother's matching ring and corresponding body are nowhere to be seen.

Somehow that hurts just as much, because he could be right next to her, and would never know.

Yusei wants to bury his father, because that's what you're supposed to do to honor the dead, or so his father has told him, but Daedalus Bridge prevents this. Sometime during the raid, someone weakened the incomplete structure holding it up - a joke of a monument, a bridge someone had tried to make years ago to carry them over the wall but was executed for doing so - and it had fallen. Part of the bridge held his father pinned to the ground.

He can't lift it. Yusei tries anyway.

He doesn't realize that his arms hurt until Stardust - when did he get behind him - lifts the piece for him, and tosses it aside. Yusei falls to his knees and reaches out to grab his father's hand. He finds it cold and stiff. He recoils from this, taking in air with quick, shallow breaths, and his vision becomes muddled with tears that overflow within seconds. Yusei wails, he screams until his throat is raw and his face is stained with tears. He doesn't stop, exactly, by the time Stardust scoops him up off the ground, into his arms and back into the sky, he just loses the volume along with the ability to speak.

His father told him not to, but Yusei looks back anyway. Yusei looks back, again and again, as his father becomes smaller and smaller, a speck in a sea of the dead, until Satellite is, for the last time, a small shape on the horizon that is lost as the sun finally sinks beneath that final dividing line.

His tears don't stop, not even as the wind wipes them away and darkness tucks him in.

* * *

 _We love you, Yusei._

* * *

"...I know tensions between the two kingdoms were caused by the tome of dragons. You will leave that matter to me, human king."

"And why should I do that?"

"Because I can settle it, now and forever. I know where it is. Do you?"

"...What do you ask for in return for this?"

"And end to the war. A ban on the hunting of my kind. And the protection of this child."

"The child you hold in your arms? He bears a strong resemblance to one of my former council members and a powerful mage I know. Where did you find him?"

"Fleeing the wreckage of his home. The first attacked in this petty squabble you call war."

"...So he is Fudo's son, isn't he. If he is from Satellite, there is no mistaking it. What of his parents?"

"Dead."

"I see."

"You should be grateful to him. He wishes for the end of this war, not me. If not for him, I would not be here."

"I suppose I shall give him my thanks another time then, since he appears exhausted."

"We passed his home on my way here. Take from that what you will. I will not be visiting this castle again, this is my only time coming to a human with an offer like this."

"I should hope so. There is a powerful spell protecting this castle, and you effortlessly shattered it the moment you decided to land in my courtyard. My guards are still posed to attack, you do understand?"

"They can't kill me."

"But they can harm _him_. Are you willing to risk that?"

"...Threatening a child? The royalty of human's sinks to a new low."

"I do what I must to protect my kingdom, as is expected of all kings. I put their needs and safety first. Dragons are a threat, and as you so kindly demonstrated on the battlefield today, powerful enough to turn the tide of battle in minutes. You should be grateful yourself, that we paused to hear your voice, instead of binding you on the spot."

"So you say. Do you accept? I will seize the tome, in return for the end of the war and protection of my species, as well as this child."

"I do."

"Swear it."

"On my honor as a king, I swear to end the war, to ban the hunting of dragons, and to protect the son of the house of Fudo. Are you satisfied?"

"Yes. ...Take him. He needs a healer to see to his wounds, and when he wakes up, he is searching for someone. Help him."

"How much does he know?"

"Nothing of the book you seek. Send him somewhere safe, where he can eat good apples and be happy. Do not let me down, Rex Godwin."


	2. Chapter 2

When Yusei wakes up, it's to a pair of unfamiliar, cold grey eyes.

Yusei's not sure whether they remind him more of an hawk or a serpent, but the gaze leaves him feeling vulnerable and alone like prey. Or maybe it's just the sudden absence of something else in his world that leaves him that way. He isn't sure. Nothing quite feels right enough to tell.

"Yusei, was it?" The man says, sitting in a chair beside the bed Yusei is on. "My name is Rex Godwin."

Yusei stares at him, through a haze that makes both reality and his body feel strange and sluggish.

"I am the king of Neo Domino," Rex says. "And I'd like to ask you a few questions."

* * *

Yusei meets Martha at dawn, when the light casts everything in a shade of orange that makes things hard to distinguish from a dream. He meets her with a knight at his side, who escorted him from the castle, down winding streets that Yusei hobbled through with his half healed leg. A mage from the King's council had seen to it, mending bone and flesh while Yusei had been asleep. He's told it will finish healing on it's own in a couple weeks at most.

"By the King's orders, I was tasked with escorting this boy to you, ma'am. His name is Yusei Fudo," The knight says, laying a hand on Yusei's shoulder, who hides behind the knight's leg like a shield. "He was told to look for you. His parents have… passed."

Martha kneels to look Yusei in the eyes - she has pretty eyes, Yusei thinks, shaped a bit like his mother's. But they were the wrong color, he could tell that even in the twilight shadowed world he was in where things sounded strange and felt more empty than before.

"Yusei," Martha says, in a soft voice. "I'm sorry."

Yusei says nothing, but lets the knight guide him forward and faces Martha directly.

"What happened to your leg, Yusei?" Martha asks, observing the limp Yusei shows as he steps toward her.

"He seemed to have been in some altercation prior to arriving at the castle," The knight continues. "His leg was broken, but it's been mended by magic. Of course, it'll need some additional time to heal..."

"Of course," Martha says, still staring at Yusei, who moves his gaze to the ground. "I'll take care of him from here. Thank you."

The knight salutes, and before turning to leave, pats Yusei on the shoulder.

"Good luck, kid." The knight says.

* * *

Yusei doesn't talk to the other kids much.

He doesn't talk at all, in fact.

Yusei does his chores and interacts with everyone on a basic level - he helps clean up the table after meals and he never quite ignores anyone, always holding a door open for Martha or handing someone an item they've asked for, but he doesn't use his words and someone always asks him _why_.

He doesn't have an answer for them.

"Do you want to talk about it, Yusei?" Martha asks.

She comes by and sits with him, at the end of the day, when the sun leaves and Yusei is left alone in the dark, waiting for his mother to start on his lessons with him or his father to call him in for dinner. They sit outside, by the steps, because it's the only thing that's built like his house back in Satellite - the style isn't quite right, and it's much older, but the color and the arrangement of the tiles is almost the same, almost enough to pretend he's somewhere else if he looks at nothing else.

Yusei opens his mouth to respond, but the words end up being swallowed by something he can't see, something dark in the corner of his eye. Fear rises up instead of words, and he feels them catch in his throat, still scratchy and sore from a time when he used it.

Yusei, in the end, says nothing.

* * *

Yusei wakes up one night, to the chill breeze flowing in from the window next to him and the tapping of the tree branches against the glass.

He gets up to close it: there's this little girl with red hair that Martha recently took in, she's frail and gets sick easily, so Yusei knows the house shouldn't be allowed to get too cold. But when he reaches the windowsill, he feels it: the faint remnants of magic in the air, something familiar and something comforting. It comes in with the wind, brushing through his hair with a touch of fondness.

Yusei lifts himself up and over the windowsill, doing his best to close the window as he goes without creating much noise. The room that he shares with the other kids is on the second floor, so he has to make his way over to a sturdy enough tree branch to begin his climb down. He's never actually climbed a tree before, so most of the experience is an effort of balance and caution. It concludes with him scrambling down the trunk with no finesse, but he managed to avoid flat out falling so it's good enough for now.

Yusei looks back up at the window: getting back will be a problem, but it's a problem for another time. His leg doesn't buckle under the weight, and for added measure Yusei tests putting all his weight on his right leg: no pain, no no weakness. It's healed in the month he's spent at Martha's, so at the very least, that won't slow him down.

 _Magic and it's user are heavily intertwined entities - magic spawns within people, and they harness it in a multitude of ways. But magic isn't simple, Yusei. It's not something so easily controlled, or necessarily easily made, as you'd notice. With most normal people, magic is one with their essence, their lifeforce. They create it and use it, and with practice, it can be just as normal as using your arm. But it is never easy._

 _Following magic isn't easy, and it is, like magic tends to be, peculiar in how it works. It has to be personal in a sense, something one has interacted with recently, and it has to be close because it just isn't easy to track long-range: too much gets in the way to really follow it. Added to that is a short lifespan - magic doesn't stay in the air very long after it disperses, and it becomes easy to lose track of if there's a lot of different kinds in the air. Some say it's because of the personal factor - that we just forget magic we haven't felt in some time, like we forget the faces of someone we don't see in a while._

 _What do you think, Yusei? Would you forget my face, or your mother's, if you didn't see it for a long time?_

He closes his eyes. He can still see their faces, hear their voices. He holds onto an image of his parents and the first time he successfully passed one of his mother's strategy puzzles: he can almost feel the touch of his father's hand on his shoulder and the tight embrace of his mother, can recall the warm words and praises he had earned that day. How long, Yusei wonders, until he loses those, too? How long until the memories fade along with the presence in his life, until he can't remember their faces, their voices, their essence, and their impact?

The trail of magic wavers, but Yusei can feel it, even with his low sense of magic. North, north-west, beyond the inner city walls, that's where the trail points to, and the only place that would make sense.

A bond is a bond, Yusei thinks, and he won't lose this too: not the memory, and not the connection.

He sets off, down the city streets, mindful of any knights on patrol. It's too late to have a viable excuse as to why he's out, too late to think of one that a child could accurately pull off. Memories of his interactions with the Security division of knights back in Satellite rear up, and Yusei can't find it in himself to trust the one's in the city yet. Better to avoid the situation altogether, though it does cost him a little extra time to weave his way around some of the more guarded streets.

He finds the trail again once he passes the city gates - it takes a fair bit of luck and timing to slip past the guard there; a small opportunity gained from a combination of his small size, the poor lighting of a single torch, and the expected observational skills from a man who kept yawning for several minutes.

He finds the magic easiest to sense in the wind, and the wind was blowing from the south, but a little pull at his senses points toward the large wooded area, used mostly for the private use of the King, or so Martha has said. Yusei doesn't know what exactly the King alone uses it for, since he didn't ask, but can't imagine that the King is using it right _now_ , so it's probably alright if goes in for a short time. He crosses the bridge over the large river and heads into the woods with that thought in mind.

The forest looks much different than the one he had encountered bandits in: it's much more spaced out, the growth of the trees, the bushes, and wildlife has been contained and trimmed and managed. Yusei doesn't trip over any of tree roots or stumble through any brambles, even in the dark with only the moonlight filtering in from the open patches in the tree branches above to see the path before him.

The walk is a long one. The path twists and tangles, looping back and intersecting with itself, which Yusei suspects makes a large intentional design should he look at the forest and it's paths on a map. It's quiet, though on occasion Yusei hears the rustle of leaves and the blur of movement, and it's always some animal, some creature that darts away too quick for him to properly look at. It's unnerving, but safer than the wild woods he had been in before, so Yusei moves on.

He reaches his destination by the very edge of the forest, at a small clearing near the river. Even without the faint trail of magic, it was very hard to miss this spot once he got close enough.

"Yusei," Stardust says, turning away from his reflection in the water to look at him. "Why are you here?"

Yusei doesn't answer.

"I told you it was best that we do not meet again," Stardust goes on to say, despite the lack of response. "It's safer for you to be elsewhere. Go home, Yusei."

He doesn't _have_ a home anymore.

Yusei walks toward Stardust, walks faster onto the sandy shore of the river where the dragon stands, until he flat out starts running. Stardust doesn't move, doesn't falter as Yusei throws himself at him, throwing his arms around Stardust's leg and clinging to it like it's the last lifeline he has.

"Kiddo…"

He won't cry, Yusei thinks, he won't cry, he won't, but he does anyway because he's weak. He's weak and shaking and sobbing and Stardust just lets him, for seconds, minutes, eons as far as Yusei can tell. Yusei uses one arm to rub at his eyes and scratch away the tears, but Stardust's tail flicks him in the nose for that. Yusei stops his soundless cries for a moment, blinking away tears and surprise as the tail flicks him again. Yusei swats at it.

"Don't hide your sorrow, Yusei," Stardust murmurs, lowering his head so that it is eye level with Yusei. "Emotions can be your strength, just as much as they can be your weakness. But if you bottle them up, you doom yourself to pain and isolation."

Yusei hesitates, but nods, and lets Stardust pick him up and deposit him on his shoulder. Stardust returns to standing at his full height, and they both gaze down at the river and the watery reflections that cast in it.

"Be strong, Yusei," Stardust says. "Grief is not weakness. It is merely a sign that you have a heart. Now, tell me why you are here. I assume it's not simply because you were near when I landed."

Yusei points at their reflection.

"The river? No. Me?" Stardust asks, and receives a short nod from Yusei. "Why don't you speak, Yusei?"

Yusei opens his mouth, and makes an attempt to say something, anything, but as usual he can't bring any words to surface. His touches his neck with his hand, and just shakes his head. Stardust tilts his head, and Yusei isn't sure if he understands, but he doesn't ask any further.

"I can't stay here long," Stardust says, to the river, because Stardust doesn't look at him but keeps his gaze steady with their mirror images. "I shouldn't have stopped here in the first place - it's too close to humans. I just - I wanted to - I thought I'd be able to sense you, from here, with a little use of magic. And I feared that you might be doing unwell, that the human king here would not keep his word to keep you safe."

Yusei swings his leg back and forth, an open display of how healed it is. Stardust nods, and flicks him one more time with his tail. Yusei is ready for it this time though, and bats it out of the way before he actually nails him in the forehead again. Yusei smiles, and Stardust rubs his head against him after a moment's hesitation. It's affectionate and gentle, and Yusei tries replicate the gesture but it just results in his hair becoming an even greater mess than usual.

"I'm not sure how you tracked me down so easily," Stardust says. "For a child that claims to be inept at magic, there's something strange about how you feel, Yusei."

Stardust actually turns to look at him, breaking the stare off with their reflections to stare Yusei directly in the eyes. It's an intense stare, with Stardust's golden eyes seeming so bright even in the dark, like it had a glow to it that was stunning and fearsome all at once. Yusei blinks, and wonders if he'd be able to say anything even if he could speak then.

"But I am glad you are well," Stardust murmurs. "I will wait with you until dawn, then I must go. Do not despair, kiddo. Your parents live on through you. Everything they have done, all their teachings, all their love; it remains with you. You are not alone."

The moon overhead crosses the sky in the time they wait in the forest, beginning to dip beyond the trees as the light starts to creep up from the opposite side. The white noise of the forest and the running of the river cradle Yusei into a lull, where he lies his head on Stardust and tries to remember voices he's doomed to forget.

 _We always forget some things,_ his mother has told him, _it's just the flaw of human memories, I'm afraid. But the things closest to our heart: we never really truly forget those. It just sometimes takes a little while to remember, that's all._

* * *

"Do you want to talk about it, Yusei?" Martha asks.

She comes by and sits with him, at the end of the day, when the sun leaves and Yusei is staring up at the sky, up at the stars and wondering what his dad would do to fix the wobbly table they eat on in the dining hall, how he'd be able to improve things with ease even without magic. They sit outside, by the steps, because his mom always said fresh air was better for you, even though she never quite explained why, but Yusei takes in a deep breath of air and lets it clear his head, clear his body with a touch of something cold but also something that tasted like a promise to meet again.

"Yes," Yusei says. "I do."

* * *

Yusei starts talking more again, and he never really gets around to explaining why.

He's not as talkative as he once was with his parents, but he tries, he really does, to talk to the other kids and Martha, to use his words to express what his actions cannot. It doesn't matter much in the long run, his voice barely makes a dent in the amount of noise that they all collectively make as a orphanage full of children, but people forget and then people ask why, and Yusei always means to come up with an answer but never does, pushing it to the lower end of his priorities.

Because he never quite makes his own answer, others do for him. And the most popular answer is a boy named Crow.

Crow is about Yusei's age, with reddish-orange hair that sticks off his head like the end of a particularly unruly broomstick. Yusei sees him around the house, playing games with other kids, doing his share of chores like everyone else, but there's never been a reason for them to so much as exchange even a few words. The only reason Yusei even knows Crow's name is because he gets in trouble the most often, and he can hear Martha's scolding from the front porch pretty well every night, when Crow comes back with stolen trinkets or breaks something again by accident.

But sometime between his time of silence and his time of making an effort, somehow Yusei catches Crow's notice.

Yusei first realizes this on a rainy night when he wanders the house, the ghosts of a burning village following him through the wooden hallways of the orphanage. It's late and everyone else is sleeping, or at least supposed to, but it's a night where Yusei can't get the face of his mother out of his mind, the soft brown eyes and pale skin going up in flames, so when he can't sleep he moves to sit out on the front porch, where he can watch the rain fall and feel the fresh air but neither drown in his memories or the water.

It just happens that tonight he's not the only one still up.

Crow jumps when Yusei steps outside onto the porch, with the creaking of the wooden panels not enough to cover in his sharp intake of air. He's sitting on the front steps, and holds something close to his chest, and when Yusei peers at it closely, it appears to be a small bird, weakly chirping at him in the moonlight.

"You can't tell Martha," Crow says, when Yusei moves towards him.

The bird's wing is broken. Yusei can see the odd angle it's bent in, can see the slow way it's small chest rises and falls, becoming more and more faint as each second ticks by.

"It's dying," Yusei says.

"I know," Crow tells, looking back down at the broken mess in his hands. "I'm… I accidentally hurt it. I'm trying to fix it."

 _A living creature can't be fixed like chair can, Yusei. Some animals are resilient, some are not. And sometimes life is cruel to those who are weak in particular. And this cat… Well... I'm sorry, Yusei. There's nothing else we can do for it now but give it a proper burial. Here, let me show you how._

He stares at Crow and the bird, trying to convey that lesson to them without speaking, only to realize Crow isn't looking, and Crow is barely literate with written words, how could he know what Yusei means if he doesn't _say_ it?

"I don't think you can save it," Yusei tells him, and watches as Crow's face crumples up like parchment. Regret, immediate regret, he did not plan this out well. Yusei doesn't know what to say to make it better so he stops again.

"It was all alone," Crow says. "It was alone and I didn't notice it and I stepped on it when I tried sneaking back inside and I… I didn't mean to."

Yusei sits down next to him.

"Will you tell Martha that I was out past curfew again?" Crow asks, his eyes still on the bird, a trace of tears gathering in his eyes.

"No."

"Why are you awake, then?"

Yusei thinks of his mother, the taste of ash in his mouth, the feeling of fire at his back with nowhere to run.

"Couldn't sleep," Yusei settles on, because it's a simpler truth. "You?"

"...Couldn't sleep either," Crow admits. "Went around the inner walls just because I could. I used to live out there, and I guess I miss it a little."

"You lived in the inner city?"

"Yeah, in the slum district like everyone else with no parents. Security brought me here after they caught me trying to steal some bread." Crow pets the bird gently, eyes staring off at the sky. "I guess I got lucky. Most adults get sent to Satellite for stealin'."

"I'm from Satellite," Yusei says, and Crow's head swivels toward him, tears momentarily forgotten.

"You got sent to Satellite?" Crow asks, "But you're just a kid like me!"

"I was… born there," Yusei says.

"I thought people got sent there for doing bad stuff. Kids can get stuck there because of they're born there?"

"They used to. It got attacked a few months ago. That's why I'm here, instead of with my parents. It's ruined now."

"Oh. Sorry."

It's get quiet for a few minutes, while Crow shuffles his feet against the dirt and Yusei traces his name down on the wooden boards with a finger. It takes a bit, but then Yusei realizes that too much quiet is not a good sign.

"The bird…"

Crow holds it in his hands, something still and something cold.

"I… I wanna bury it."

So they do.

In the back garden where Martha tends to a small patch of flowers, next to where they grow their food, Yusei helps Crow dig out a shallow grave with their hands. They work in silence, trying to pry out some space from the hard earth.

"This is how you bury someone, right?" Crow asks, and Yusei nods. "I don't really know how. Do birds bury their own, or is that just people?"

Crow lowers the bird down gently, covering it with dirt like a blanket, and leaving a small rock as a headstone.

"You're… Yusei, right? I'm Crow." Crow says. "Thanks. You know. For helping and stuff."

Yusei nods, and rubs at his eyes. His dreams are fading, and his tiredness is catching up with him. So he turns to go back inside, and Crow joins him, matching him step for step as they head back to the front porch.

"What's that?" Crow points to the ring held on a string around Yusei's neck.

"A memento."

"A Moment?"

"A memento."

"A Momentum?"

"...Yes."

"Cool. What does that mean?"

"It's a ring that belonged to my father." Yusei murmurs, reaching up to touch the cool metal swinging from his neck. "It's something to remember him by."

"What was it like, having parents?"

Like a sharp stab at his heart; Yusei thinks of a warm house, the laughter of his parents, and their hands holding his. He thinks of their faces, of their voices, of their memories, and knows what he can remember is but a fraction of who they were. Words don't describe the feeling of completeness, of being a unit that functioned with two others that were ripped away far too soon.

He doesn't have an answer for Crow.

* * *

Four months into his stay at the orphanage, Yusei walks slowly in a crowd full of strangers, the kind of people he's supposed to be wary of because the market near the castle were prime targets for thieves and he really couldn't afford to be pickpocketed today.

Yusei's has his arms wrapped around a small package, tracing the mark on the front with an absent mind and a heavy heart. Because of the way he holds it and his almost single minded determination to not let it go, he manages to prevent it from slipping out of his grasp when someone collides full force with him from behind; a boy that's turning the corner like he's being chased by a dragon, looking over his shoulder instead of in front of him, and naturally not noticing the obstacle that is Yusei standing in his path.

The result of an immovable object versus an unstoppable force is that both boys end up on the ground, a pile where Yusei finds himself on the bottom and immediately tries to get out from it.

"Ow!" The other boy grumbles. "What the heck? Why were you just _standing_ there?"

Yusei's response is to crawl his way to freedom. The boy eventually gets the hint, getting off and sitting with his back against the wall. Yusei sighs, finally able to breathe without a heavy weight on top of his lungs, and checks to make sure the package wasn't damaged; it seems his arms took the brunt of the fall, Yusei inspects his skinned forearms with only a second's glance before double checking the paper and rope that kept the package together. It was fine, the insignia on the front intact, and Yusei nods to himself before looking up at the boy who knocked them both over.

Purple eyes and blonde hair, and a face displaying a pronounced frown, like a boy who had understood the theory but never quite learned how to smile in practice. Yusei pegs him as nobility the exact moment he sees his clothes - they're clean, pristine clothes that nobody in this neighborhood would wear, even better than the nice clothes he used to wear when he lived with his parents. The older kids at the orphanage told him the richer looking you are, the more likely you'll be targeted by thieves, so Yusei decides to take his package and the tattered clothes on his back elsewhere.

His attempt at leaving is halted when the kid pulls him back and uses him like a shield, because a pair of guards round the same corner and stop, looking around before hurrying on. Their gazes sweep over Yusei's dark hair and dirty clothes, just barely enough to distract from the other kid in a white hooded cloak trying to hunch behind him.

Yusei is released when the guards move out of sight and the blonde boy feels comfortable enough to let them both stand up. He's taller than Yusei by a few inches, and everything about him sticks out like a sore thumb.

"Look," The boy says, folding his arms over his chest. "I'm trying to stay out of Security's notice, and didn't mean to knock you over, okay? _Sorry_. But I need help and _you_ have to help me."

Yusei makes a face at this.

"It's your fault I fell," The boy insists. "So you have to help me get out of here. I can't be caught okay? I'll be in huge trouble if I am."

Yusei stares off at a cloud that looks like it's shaped like a lumpy hedgehog.

"Ugh, can't you at least point me in the direction of where I need to go?" Jack demands. "So that you're not _entirely_ useless?"

"Nothing in this world is useless," Yusei says, more out of reflex than a desire to communicate with someone who barrelled into him with all the grace of a broken wheelbarrow.

Before the boy can respond, and before Yusei can just turn and run off like he had been meaning to, shouting and the should of people in armor distract them. Security is causing a ruckus in the market square, holding up the flow of people and shouting something or another. Yusei isn't sure what's going on; before anytime Security held up people like this it was in Satellite, and those were never anything good. So Yusei turns to the boy and grabs him by the arm and leads him down a quiet alley, one small enough to be overlooked and easy enough for two kids to slip down through. The boy doesn't seem used to being pulled along, initially resisting and then tripping a few times before getting into the rhythm of Yusei's pace.

"Can't you talk or something?" The boy huffs once they stop, a few blocks away from the market.

"Yes." Yusei says, letting go and returning to hugging his package with both arms.

"Then why don't you?"

Yusei says nothing. The boy scowls at him.

"...That insignia is the symbol of the king," The boy says, glancing at the package in Yusei's arms. "Did you steal that?"

"No."

"Then how'd you get it?"

"Returned to me."

"What?"

"It's belongs to me by right." Yusei whispers, holding it close. "So it was given back to me."

"The king never gives anything back, especially not to peasants," The boy snarls. "You're just a thief, aren't you?"

" _It belongs to me by right._ " Yusei insists, thinking of kings and haziness, and a deeply rooted knowledge that this was how it should be.

As it turns out, the boy is not only unusually loud and capable of sticking out like a sore thumb, but stronger than Yusei too, as they find out in a sudden struggle for the package in his arms. The boy tears it from Yusei's grasp and the paper rips, sending its contents flying. A note flutters out, as well as something far more important. Yusei shoves the boy aside and dives for it, while the boy scrambles for the letter on the ground.

Yusei catches it before it can go to far, landing nearly face first onto the brick pavement. The boy snatches up the note and stands up.

"What does this say?" The boy squints at the writing. "...Oh."

Yusei stands up, and the paper is thrust into his face. He looks around it at the boy, who refuses to make eye contact with him. Yusei takes the paper.

 _Yusei Fudo,_

 _You may not remember me very well. I met you for a short time after you were brought to my castle. In this package I have enclosed something to you, something we discussed during your brief stay._

 _This is yours by right of inheritance, and I believe that it should be returned to you. I had my men bury the fallen in Satellite, and this was recovered before we put your father's body to rest._

 _I knew your father well and admired the work he did, and I was saddened to hear of his and your mother's passing. They were great assets to the kingdom and loyal mages. May you continue on as your parents living legacy._

 _Signed,_

 _King Rex Godwin_

Yusei looks down at his hand, the one curled around his gift, his inheritance. He opens it up and forces himself not to look away. His father's ring, the carved ring that matched his mother's, gleamed in the dim light, a dull silver and several sizes too big for his own hand but that was fine, everything was fine.

He never thought that he'd see it again.

"...Are you crying?" The other boy says, looking away and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Listen, I'm sorry, okay? You're not a thief, I take it back. That's… That's definitely the king's writing."

Yusei shakes his head, and reaches to rub away his tears only to stop. It's fine. He has something of his father; he doesn't _need_ it but he will treasure it, it's a reminder, like the teachings his parents gave him, like the advice Stardust has told him. He can be strong. He can cry. He'll be okay.

He's not alone.

"What's your name?" Yusei asks, smiling.

"...Jack."

"Where do you want to go, Jack?"

Jack stares at him like he grew an extra arm, but seems to shake it off in preference for going with the sudden change in Yusei's demeanor.

"Anywhere away from the castle. ...Outside of the inner walls would be cool."

So Yusei leads him out past the inner wall. It takes a lot of weaving through roads and ducking behind other travelers to avoid the notice of Security, but Jack seems to think it's fun, smirking every time they dodge notice, and Yusei isn't much inclined to disagree on that stance.

They make it onto the bridge when Jack spots something.

"There," He says, pointing at the forest. "I want to go there."

Yusei looks. It's the forest he found Stardust in, a small blind spot in the kingdom's defense, being so close to the river and the inner walls at the same time. At the far end of the forest was a mountain backing it, making it a bit of an enclosed forest that Yusei hadn't noticed in the dark. Stardust could easily access it by flying low over the mountain and down into the woods, but most other people would find it impossible to access the city via that route.

"That's the king's private forest," Yusei says. "We're not supposed to go in."

"It'll be fine, trust me." Jack says, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him along into the entrance. "It's not like the king is using it right now anyway, right?"

Yusei can't argue with this logic, so he follows without a word.

The woods are much more clear and beautiful within the sunlight, Yusei finds. He's able to notice the local flora and smaller animals and the overall atmosphere is much less stressful. Yusei wonders what Stardust would think, had he been able to stay past dawn to see it all. He probably would have liked it, and lifted Yusei up so he could pick some of the fruit in the higher branches.

"So this is the royal private hunting grounds?" Jack says, craning his neck to look around at everything. "I expected it to be… bigger. But I guess it's okay."

Jack walks up to a tree that looks older than the kingdom itself, and taps at the bark like he's expecting it to do something. A squirrel leaps off a lower branch and makes an escape, but otherwise the tree remains the same.

"So this is what it's like in the outer walls?" Jack scoffs, turning back to Yusei and crossing his arms. "I don't see what all the appeal is then."

"This is still within the kingdom's safety," Yusei tilts his head to the side. "It's not as nice outside the barrier."

"What would you know?" Jack says, "I bet you've never even been outside the outer walls either."

Yusei shrugs.

"C'mon," Jack says, heading deeper into the forest. "I've heard there are deer in here and I want to see one."

"What's a deer?" Yusei asks, falling into pace just a step behind Jack.

"How can you not know what a deer is? Do like, commoners just live in ignorance or ﹘ ", Jack throws his arm out and Yusei walks right into it, a barrier that stops him as they both listen, to the quiet forest and the definite sound of footsteps approaching. Jack pulls at his arm and drags him into the bushes, a mirror event of their first escape from Security. It's a much closer parallel than Yusei would have thought, because a few seconds after Jack pushes Yusei beneath some thick ferns, Security dashes by again.

Jack's white clothes provide to be just as much of a beacon as Yusei suspected it would, because he's spotted immediately. The reaction of being caught doing something he knew they weren't supposed to, however, is swept aside in seconds because instead of yelling at Jack, the three Security guards kneel.

"Took you long enough," Jack says, stepping out of the ferns, slightly kicking Yusei in the process. "I've been wandering around all day."

"We know, prince," A man says, with dark hair and thick eyebrows. He stands up, a rather tall man with a broad nose and an expression of respect that seems forced. "The King has been worried about you."

"I doubt that Ushio," Jack says, walking past him, back towards the entrance. "My father hasn't cared a day in his life about what I'm doing, so long as it's nothing _fun_."

"You know we have to escort you back to the castle, Prince Jack," Ushio says, as the other two officers stand up and move to flank him.

"Yeah whatever," Jack waves them off with a dismissive hand. "I had a just fine time getting around on my own today. It was nice for a change."

"Were you with something else?" Ushio says, looking around the forest and glaring at a squirrel that looked at him funny. "We heard reports that you entered in here with someone else, someone who led you here?"

Yusei holds his breath.

"Are you stupid?" Jack says, not even stopping. "Do you _see_ anyone else? This is my father's private hunting grounds, no one else would be dumb enough to go in here. Hurry up or I'll tell my father you lost me again because you were too slow to keep up."

Yusei can't really see much more from his angle on the ground, beneath fern leaves and the branches of a nearby bush, so Jack must have taken the path that led back around the corner, past the large tree they stopped at. Security seems in no rush to take off after him. Apparently, Yusei had been running around all day with someone of nobility, which he could tell, but also someone who was the prince, which Yusei had, admittedly, not even known existed, because no one told him the King had a son.

"What the hell is with that brat's attitude?" Ushio says, low enough that only the other officers would hear, and Yusei due to sheer proximity. "Can't believe we're stuck on babysitting duty for a kid who thinks he's king already."

"It's technically a great honor," Another officer says. The other two stare at him with all the enthusiasm of a bird with a broken wing and a missing leg, and he instead offers: "...We could be stationed somewhere worse."

"Yeah, whatever," Ushio says. "It's better than being stationed in Satellite, I'll give you that. What a shithole that place was. I served there for a few years, and let me tell you, I'm glad I got re-assigned. Place was overflowing with _trash_."

Yusei's nails curl into the dirt beneath him.

"Seriously? It's a good thing then that you got put here, since that got attacked pretty quick after war was declared."

"I know," Ushio nods, and gestures for them to move forward. "Come on, let's hurry after the brat before he gets loose again."

They were _wrong_ , Yusei knew, watching their shadows and listening to the fading sounds of their footsteps, they were wrong because Satellite wasn't _overflowing with trash_ , it was overflowing with _people_ , people who had nowhere else to go because they couldn't. People with lives and hopes and dreams.

People who died horribly because Security didn't protect them. People who lived horribly because Security never protected them.

Yusei uncurls his fists, now caked with dirt, and stands up, moving out of the shade of the ferns and back into the well lit path.

That had to change. Something needed to be done about Security, about the poison that ran through it, the hatred and dismissal of lives.

 _When something's broken, Yusei,_ his mother has told him, _it's best to first start by understanding what is causing the problem in the first place. When a stream is blocked, undoing the blockage is a good start, but the best course of action is to find out what is blocking the river, and why. The root of the problem must be addressed, otherwise the stream will just become clogged again and again._


End file.
